Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 157

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 157: Nightmare 12th Floor (4)

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The Demon King kept rambling on, but I continued drinking the water without stopping.

Only after I'd drunk so much that it was difficult to swallow any more did I pull my mouth away from the tank.

“Gah...”

My body felt limp.

It was as though the ground were pulling me down with an irresistible force.

I lay back down on the floor.

An indescribable languor wrapped around my entire body.

- You're driving me mad, you idiot...

The Demon King sighed before speaking.

- Get up right now. Aren't you going to clear the 12th floor?

‘It's such a hassle...’

I should clear it.

But I could do it later.

No. Did I really have to do it at all?

- Are you going to let your world be destroyed? If you don't clear it, everyone will die.

...What a bother.

I couldn't even be bothered to think about that anymore.

‘All I have to do is stop it...’

Time.

I could just stop it.

Then the world wouldn't be destroyed.

I could rest for as long as I wanted.

Why hadn't I done something this simple until now?

What a loss. I'd worked so hard for nothing.

With my eyes closed, I entered the Mindscape.

Instead of a hard floor, a soft bed welcomed me.

It was cozy and comfortable.

I could rest here forever now. I'd stopped time outside.

The Demon King's voice rang out again.

“If everything is such a bother, hand over your body. I'll take care of it myself.”

No. I didn't want that.

“Didn't I say I'd take care of all the bothersome things for you? Hand it over!”

...If I hand it over, you'll clear the floor and leave.

After I finish the 12th floor, the 13th floor will be waiting.

After the 13th comes the 14th.

After the 14th comes the 15th.

The 16th, 17th, 18th...

Just thinking about it was exhausting. Suffocating.

Watching my family suffer as they watched me climb the Tower... I was tired of that too.

Every future waiting for me was a hassle.

So let's cut off the flow of time.

After all, destruction was all that awaited me at the end.

How was a mere human like me supposed to defeat a transcendent entity like the Tower?

Let's not go all the way to the end. I'll stop here.

There would be no more failures or successes.

In this stopped world, no one, including me, would suffer.

This was salvation.

I'd saved the world, so I'd finished everything I needed to do...

“You fucking idiot. What amazing self-delusion.”

After cursing at me, the Demon King spoke in a coaxing voice.

“Let's just get out first. Can't you rest after we leave? Give me your body, and I'll clear the floor before returning it right away. After that, you can stop time and rest however you want. Hmm?”

There was no need to leave the 12th floor.

If I felt troubled again, I could drink the water. Then I'd feel better.

Why did the Demon King keep trying to do things himself?

It was because he didn't know. He didn't know how comfortable this was.

“Shut up, you rotten bastard. Clear the floor!”

With the Demon King's shout, the bed supporting my body vanished.

The Mindscape shook chaotically.

The space trembled, colors twisted into a mess, and all kinds of noises rang out.

“What are you doing?”

“Go on then. Try resting wherever you please.”

The Demon King didn't seem to like seeing me rest comfortably.

There was no way I could beat him in the Mindscape.

So I simply went outside.

- Ah.

With my eyes closed and time still stopped, I continued my comfortable rest.

- Damn it, I really want to kill you.

I couldn't even be bothered to think anymore.

I didn't try to keep myself conscious.

Even the Demon King's noisy voice gradually faded.

As though I were sinking beneath the sea...

‘...’

What?

How much time had passed?

I'd nearly lost consciousness, only returning to my senses once in a while.

Each time, the Demon King's voice was so loud that I quickly let go again.

‘Doesn't he ever get tired...’

Everything was fine except for that one source of noise.

Even if I stopped time, I couldn't stop the Demon King from talking in my head...

Was there no way around it?

A way to create my own perfect world where no one could disturb me.

‘Ah.’

Come to think of it.

I'd forgotten the simplest and most fundamental method.

Why not just die?

If I died, I wouldn't even have to think anymore.

An eternal rest without even the slightest trace of consciousness.

The ultimate paradise.

Good. Let's go.

I resumed time.

I opened my eyes. Light poured in.

It felt like it had been ages since I'd seen anything other than darkness.

I couldn't even be bothered to move a finger, but...

To reach paradise, I forced myself to move.

This would be the final effort of my life.

I raised my upper body and picked up the Sword of Heaven's Gatekeeper.

The Demon King screamed as though he were losing his mind, but I ignored him.

Whatever, whatever. You're too loud.

This is the last time I'll have to listen to your tiresome voice.

I brought the blade of the Sword of Heaven's Gatekeeper, wrapped in Heavenly Aura, to my neck.

That was when it happened.

Diul suddenly leaped out of the bracelet on their own.

...Sssaaa!

The surroundings were dyed in darkness.

At the same time, every sensation in my body vanished.

Diul had spread Pitch-black Fog.

‘...Diul?’

What was this?

It was the first time Diul had used their ability without my permission.

And why was I being affected by Pitch-black Fog...

‘Idiot!’

A powerful telepathic message came through our mental connection.

Diul's mind shook violently, as though they were sobbing uncontrollably.

I flinched.

The Demon King's voice, which had been muffled, became clear.

- You fucking idiot. Fine, just die already. What was I even expecting from an idiot like you?

...Why are you so angry?

I asked because I genuinely didn't understand.

What had I done so wrong?

- Didn't I tell you to die if you want to? Your world will die with you. Not only the more than eight billion humans, but your family as well.

“...”

- They'll wait for you to return, fall into despair, then die miserably and horribly, just as the other you in the parallel world on the 10th floor told you. But what does it matter? Once you're dead, none of it will matter to you.

Don't.

Why are you saying such cruel things?

- The Hero must be shedding tears of bitter regret as well. She trusted you and willingly offered her neck. What a pointless death. It was all for nothing. Rather than die for an idiot like you, I would've chosen to live as the Tower's clown.

...Seri.

Had I told her that I'd do my best?

It felt as though a thin needle were pricking my heart.

I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about any of it.

Perhaps Diul had reached their limit, because the Pitch-black Fog slowly began to clear.

I hurriedly leaned against the water tank.

Let's drink the water. Then I can turn away from everything.

- Are you really going to end everything like this?!

...Why was the world filled with nothing but pain?

Where had all this pain begun?

The Tower.

My head, which had been lowering toward the water tank, stopped.

I froze in place, unable to do anything.

‘Right...’

It was the Tower.

The reason my life, which should have been peaceful all along, had become such a mess.

At least all of my pain and anguish... had begun with you.

The root of all evil had always been the Tower.

A faint emotion stirred.

It was Wrath, which had been continuously suppressed by the overwhelming presence of Sloth.

I instinctively knew this was my last chance.

Squeezing out every last shred of willpower, I pressed the fountain's dragon-emblem button.

The water in the tank turned bright red.

I plunged my head in and gulped it down.

I drank without end.

Like a dying ember coming back to life, the rage in my heart grew stronger and began to blaze.

The sin of Sloth could no longer stop that wildfire from spreading.

“...Pwah!”

I raised my head and glared at the sky.

My body trembled with immense, uncontrollable rage.

“GRAAAAAAAH!!”

I'll kill it.

I'll kill that fucking Tower.

But how the hell do I kill this bastard?

Aah, fuck! How am I supposed to kill it?!

- You lunatic, there's no middle ground with you. It's good that you've come to your senses, but calm down a little.

The Demon King's voice sounded fed up.

I repeatedly gnawed and tore at my finger.

If I reached the final floor, wouldn't I find some way to kill it? In the end, that was my only answer.

Then I had to clear the 12th floor and get out right now.

I'd clear it and leave, then challenge the next floor too. I'd kill it.

I grabbed the Sword of Heaven's Gatekeeper and flew into the sky.

Whoooosh!

Stepping through the air with Air Step, I searched for the Purifying Holy Water with fire in my eyes.

[You may complete the clear by using the Escape Route or drinking the Purifying Holy Water.]

I'd destroyed the Escape Route myself, and drinking the Purifying Holy Water should finish the clear.

But unlike the Escape Route, the Purifying Holy Water wasn't easy to find.

I flew through the sky for a long time, searching the forest.

“Come out already! Fuuuuuck!”

I was going crazy with frustration, so I used Radiant Incarnation.

Moving through the forest at the speed of light, I searched for the Purifying Holy Water.

After some time, I found it.

A small glass vial, half-buried in the trunk of a massive tree.

As expected of that fucking Tower bastard, the Tower had hidden it in such a despicable place. How was I supposed to find this in such a vast forest?

The vial contained a transparent liquid that looked like water.

I deactivated Radiant Incarnation and hurriedly tried to pull out the Purifying Holy Water.

But it wouldn't come out with brute force.

Just as I was about to carve the tree apart with my sword, the ground split open with a tremor.

Tree roots surged up from below like whips.

I swung my sword and cut them all apart.

What the fuck was this bastard now?

It seemed the tree itself was the boss of the 12th floor.

The enormous tree before me writhed, spewing out far more roots.

Kwarararar!

I swung the Sword of Heaven's Gatekeeper and cut through every woody tendril rushing at me.

No matter how high its defense was, it was as soft as pudding before Heavenly Aura.

“Get lost!”

I kicked off the air and slashed into the tree's trunk.

It was so massive that I had to slash at it several more times before the trunk was completely split in half.

The boss's body crashed to the ground.

“You fucking bastard! You just had to keep getting in my way until the end!”

Still unable to vent my anger, I kept hacking the boss's corpse with my sword.

I'll kill you like this too.

No. I won't kill you easily.

I'll make you suffer more than anyone in the world, ten times more than all the pain in the world combined. If you beg me to spare you, I'll laugh and spit on you.

Only after the boss, which had died in two pieces, had been chopped into hundreds of pieces did I stop swinging my sword.

Breathing heavily, I pulled the Purifying Holy Water from the corpse.

I tore off the vial's stopper and immediately brought it to my mouth.

I'll definitely kill you like that, Tower.

So wait for me.

You'll never... be saved...

My mind cleared.

The rage that had burned in my heart vanished in an instant, as though it had evaporated.

“...?”

Confused, I looked down at my hand.

I was holding an empty vial. I'd drunk all the Purifying Holy Water.

“...Wow.”